Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Every mother obsesses over a nursery leading up to their first baby, right? You have to make sure everything is perfect and you're ready to welcome the little one home. Well, that's exactly how I ended up with six different inspiration boards for my daughter's nursery! Let's just say decisiveness and pregnancy do not go well together.

Of course, I started with a focus on function and never wavered from my original floor plan. It consisted of a crib (obviously) strategically positioned in the one spot in the room that wasn't under a window (we do live in a glass house, after all, but don't worry we recently installed 3M safety film on all the windows), bookcases lining one wall and rounding the corner, and a chair plus ottoman. Pretty simple.

The Classic Ouef Crib was locked in, as was the Billy bookcase storage solution from IKEA which would get a birch top (an IKEA-hack since the corner solution doesn't really work with the low bookcases). I had spotted the Britten Nummer fabric, also from IKEA, and envisioned it as the perfect backdrop for the bookcases (simply covering the back panels with the fabric adhered with a little non-toxic Modge Podge). I had also spontaneously selected a light turquoise for the walls when the painters were here to cover up the oh-so-hideous hospital green walls that the previous owner had somehow thought were a good idea.

So, those were all the decisions that had been made up until the third trimester. In the mean time, I was distracted with all the other projects happening, which is really just my excuse for not being able to make up my mind. Designers designing for themselves is sometimes a fatal combination. Add in the pregnancy hormones and you're doomed.

Then, a trip to the Rose Bowl Flea Market turned up a Ralph Rapson-style rocker (which I have to imagine was the inspiration behind IKEA's Poang rocker you'll see pictured in the first collage) and the room finally began to take shape. I had all the major furniture pieces. Although that still didn't stop me from contemplating repainting the walls (as you'll notice in the 3rd collage). So without further ado, here are the many variations on the nursery's color palette, textiles, lighting and decor. Can you guess which one of these five inspiration boards was the winner?